By Ellen Polite
Childhood
o Born July 9, 1947 in San Francisco California
o Mom was a hospital administrator and dad was a chef & bank custodian
o Simpson has one brother, one sister, and a dead sister
o In 52’ his parents divorced and his mother continued to raise him
o Growing up Simpson lived in the projects of Potrero Hill
o In his early teenage years he joined a gang called the Persian Warriors
o He was briefly a patient at the San Francisco Youth Guidance Center
o Simpson attended Galileo High school and played on their football team
o Simpson developed this love of high school football into a NFL career
NFL Career
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Nicknamed “The Juice”
Played for the Buffalo Bills in 1969
Struggled and averaged about 622 yards per season for the first three years
1972 his stats and performance started improving
Thanksgiving game was his best against Detroit Lions November 25, 1976
Before the 1978 season Bills traded Simpson to the San Francisco 49ers
Holds the record for the single season yards-per-game average 143.1ypg
In 1985 he was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Last game played was for the 49ers in 1979
After NFL he had a career in sports broadcasting and acting
Acting and Broadcasting Career
 Simpson was in several films including; The Klansman (1974), The
Cassandra Crossings (1976), Back to the beach (1987), Capricorn One (1978).
 Aside from his acting career Simpson also was a commentator for
Monday Night Football and NFL on NBC
 Simpson also hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live during it’s third
season
Family Life
• June 24, 1967 Simpson married Marguerite L. Whitley
• Together they had three children: Arnelle L. Simpson (born December 4,
1968), Jason L. Simpson (April 21, 1970), and Aaren Lashone Simpson
(September 24, 1977).
• August 1979 Aaren drowned in the family’s swimming pool
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Simpson and Whitley divorced that same year
• Simpson started dating Nicole Brown before his divorce was finalized and
then the two were married in 1985
• The couple had two children: Sydney Simpson
(born October 17, 1985) and Justin Simpson (August 6, 1988).
• Simpson pleaded no contest of spousal abuse in 1989
• Brown filed for divorce in February or 1992
No contest means he took conviction as if he were guilty but
did not actually admit to the crime
The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson
and Ronald Goldman
• These two were murdered on June 12 of 1994
• Simpson was charged with the murder but acquitted the charges in the end
• Simpson stayed with Robert Kardashian after the murder took palce
• Prosecutors speculated that a garment bag of Simpson’s contained his bloody
clothes or the murder weapon
• Prosecutors also argued that Kardashian was the one carrying the bag during
an important time in his alibi
• A part of the murder trial of Simpson’s wife was never televised but show in
the two hour long film pilot of Frogmen
• The trial and arrest were among the most widely publicized events in
American history.
Acquitted means free
from a criminal charge
Miscellaneous Criminal Run in’s
• The State of California claimed he owed them 1.4 million in past due taxes
• September 1, 1990 a tax lien was filed in his case
A tax lien is the act of forcing someone or a business to pay back their taxes
• Simpson’s Miami home was searched December 4,2001 for alleged
ecstasy possession and money laundering
• March 2004 DirecTV accused Simpson in a Miami federal court of using
illegal electronic devices to steal their broadcast signal
• The company won 25k in adjustment and Simpson also had to pay an
additional 33,678 in legal fees and charges
Las Vegas robbery
• It was at the Palace Station hotel-casino where Simpson had a group
enter a room and steal sports memorabilia at gun point
• Simpsons claimed the items had been stolen from him and he was getting
them back but denied breaking into the hotel room
• Simpson also denied having a gun and was released after questioning
• Two days later Simpson was arrested and help without bail
• Along with three other of the men, Simpson was held to multiple felonies
including: criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, assault, robbery, and use of a
deadly weapon
• The other men convicted decided to turn on Simpson rating him out in
order to lower their own sentences
• January of 2008 Simpson was flown from Florida to Las Vegas where he
was incarcerated
Incarcerated means imprisoned
Las Vegas trial Continued
• A Nevada judge agreed on October 19, 2012 to "reopen the armed
robbery and kidnapping case against O.J. Simpson
• July 31, 2013 Simpson was granted parole for some of the charges but he
is still doing time for another four years on other charges
Social Control Theory
Definition- Conform to social expectations because they do what people expect
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Criminals of social control behavior are drawn to deviant behaviors but also feel like
they have to comply with social norms. Simpson fits this description because for a lot of
his crimes he got them lowered to misdemeanors or even got them acquitted. Simpson
was in the public eye even before the murder of Nicole Brown and he went to extreme
lengths to keep his name clean for his past NFL and acting career reputation. Simpson
claimed no contest for spousal abuse to his first wife, which means he took the
conviction but never actually admitted he was guilty. I believe Simpson did this to look
like an upstanding guy in societies mind. He didn’t want to plead guilty because then he
would gain a bad reputation. Simpson had several criminal acts on his record when I
researched him but he got away with most of them Scott free. This was the case until
the robbery of Palace Station hotel-casino.
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The robbery of Palace Station was when Simpson’s luck ran out. He was caught and arrested.
His reputation becoming more tarnished by each felony. Simpson was used to getting away
with his crimes in the past and even once he was imprisoned for this robbery he still asked for
the case to be reopened for parole. This resulted in him being granted parole on some of the
counts but he still is serving four years in a Nevada jail for other charges. So even though he
was actually convicted for this crime he still in a way got the charges lowered in the end and
got a few years off of his sentence. This contributes to the social control theory because
Simpson committed crimes but was also concerned about his reputation and status in society
and got away with many of his illegal actions.